The dusky sky stretched over endless dunes of pale sand, a wasteland painted in muted tones. This was Hueco Mundo, the realm born from the grudges and regrets of departed souls.
Without warning, a figure appeared in the silence. A snake-like creature, its entire body silver-white, with a bone mask covering its face. It was nearly three meters long, its movements coiling against the barren ground.
"Here… is this the place?"
The creature lifted its head, golden eyes scanning the gray expanse, confusion etched across its masked features. Then, images began flashing in its mind—fragmented, blurred memories that did not belong to this form.
He remembered being a young man in his twenties, trapped in the monotony of commuting to work each day. Life held no great triumphs, no grand stories. His joys were small—watching anime, scrolling Douyin, wasting hours on his phone. Yet in the final moment of that life, he did something unexpected. He leapt into a river to save a drowning girl. She lived. He did not.
If asked, he would not regret saving her. But there was one thing he wished he could have said: I'm sorry, Father. I'm sorry, Mother.
The memories crystallized. He bowed deeply three times in his mind. Father, Mother, please take care of yourselves. Lin Sheng can only repay your kindness in the next life.
Now reborn in this strange, lifeless world, Lin Sheng struggled to comprehend his existence. "Did Heaven look upon me with pity and grant reincarnation? But why this? Why not a human form? How am I supposed to live as a snake?" His voice echoed weakly against the wind, though there was no sun in the sky—only endless daylight without warmth.
Then the sand beside him erupted. From beneath the dunes crawled a monstrous spider, its form twisted and grotesque, a bone-white mask covering its head, a black void gaping in its chest.
"A Hollow…?" Lin Sheng froze, recognition dawning as images from anime merged with the nightmare before him.
The spider Hollow shrieked and lunged. Lin Sheng rolled aside instinctively, its razor legs slicing the space where he had been a heartbeat earlier.
Too close.
Panting, he eyed its bladed limbs with unease. But the Hollow gave no respite, charging again with mindless hunger.
"Damn it! If I die here, I'll be nothing but a joke!" Rage burned through Lin Sheng. He had already died once—he refused to be devoured like prey.
The spider roared, its attacks wild and unrelenting. Lin Sheng dodged again and again, then seized his chance. He coiled his serpentine body around its abdomen, constricting with crushing force. The Hollow shrieked in agony, thrashing violently, but his grip only tightened.
With a final wrench, the spider Hollow disintegrated into fragments of reishi, scattering into the air. A single blue particle shot into Lin Sheng's body, merging with his form.
"What the—? Was that some kind of curse?" His heart pounded, bracing for weakness. Instead, he felt stronger. His body surged slightly in size, his strength denser than before.
"So that's it… Hollows devour one another to grow stronger. Then if I keep feeding, I can change this form… evolve." His mind raced, recalling myths of serpents becoming dragons. "Snakes become pythons, pythons become jiao, jiao become dragons. If Hollows can transform too, then one day I'll be more than this."
His resolve hardened. "This is the world of the Shinigami. Here, everything is possible. If I must begin as a Hollow, then I'll climb higher than gods themselves. Aizen, the Spirit King, Yhwach—let them see who the true king of Hueco Mundo is!"
But first, survival. Power could come later. Hueco Mundo teemed with predators far stronger than him.
"I need strength, and I need it now. And if I can, I have to figure out what timeline this is. If Aizen already has the Hōgyoku, then I need to be careful…"
He slithered across the endless sands, his mind restless with questions, when suddenly he spotted something strange. A lone figure in the distance, standing still against the desert horizon.
A human.
Impossible. No Shinigami robes, no Arrancar armor—just the clothes of an ordinary man.
Cautiously, Lin Sheng approached. "Excuse me… are you a human, lost here?"
The figure trembled but gave no reply, its back still turned.
"Hey. Are you lost here?" Lin Sheng raised his voice, edging closer.
Slowly, the figure turned. It was indeed a human face—but twisted with despair, streaked with tears. For an instant it seemed about to speak, but instead a guttural roar tore from its throat as its body swelled grotesquely. A mask of bone sealed over its face, and a black hole yawned in its chest.
A Hollow, newly born from grief and regret.
It lunged before Lin Sheng could react, its speed overwhelming. He was hurled across the sands, rolling with the impact before regaining balance.
"Damn it!"
The monster attacked again, instinct guiding its savage strength. Lin Sheng dodged, circling around, then coiled tightly around its body. It clawed and writhed, but his constriction crushed the life from it. Moments later, it too dissolved into reishi, leaving behind another faint blue glow that sank into his form.
Lin Sheng gasped, feeling the slight increase in power. "Not as much as the spider… but enough. Stronger Hollows must give more energy. That means I just need to keep fighting. Keep devouring."
In the endless deserts of Hueco Mundo, his rebirth had only just begun.